New management guidelines for national parks drew cautious enthusiasm from conservation groups that say the draft document will help protect natural resources for future generations.

Greens say the plan, which went before the Senate National Parks Subcommittee yesterday, reverses potentially damaging language in two previously proposed documents that would have opened the door for increased motorized recreation in parks. Motorized vehicle advocates say the rules are too restrictive to benefit the public.

“We’re really excited about the news,” said Fred Smith of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, who said the previous plans “really threatened to trash our national parks.

“I’m pleased that [Department of the Interior] Secretary [Dirk] Kempthorne really looked at the issues and saw the problems with the revised management policies and threw those out,” Smith said.

The Park Service received more than 45,000 comments on the draft, and conservation groups said the proposed guidelines show that Interior Department officials respected the public’s input.

“We’re heartened that they seem to have taken the public’s concerns about the mission of the parks seriously,” said Craig Kenworthy, associate conservation director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. “The public understands that the activities of today have to be balanced with our obligation to the future.”

Chuck Clusen of the Natural Resources Defense Council agreed. “I think what we have experienced here is that Americans really do care about their national parks,” he said. “They really speak up and take action when they perceive a threat to them.”

U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, who pressured the Bush administration to extend the public comment period on the document, said in a statement Monday that the federal agency was receptive to input. “To the Park Service’s credit, they listened to the concerns of both employees and the public and have responded with a document which takes management of the parks to a higher level.”

The new draft document holds true to many of the management guidelines currently used by national park superintendents. The current guidelines, enacted in 2001, and the recent draft both contain language that emphasizes conservation, clean air and protection of wildlife over public recreation.

An earlier draft plan proposed last year by Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Paul Hoffman deleted much of this conservation language in favor of guidelines that eased restrictions on ATVs, snowmobiles and jet skis in parks. He had been the Cody Chamber of Commerce director before his appointment to that post. He has since been reassigned.

While the management plan does not directly affect ongoing battles over snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, conservation groups and snowmobile advocates alike said the management guidelines would most likely influence how and where snowmobiles can travel throughout Yellowstone in the future.

Ron Tipton of the National Parks Conservation Association said the draft plan gives park managers the tools to restrict some uses, including snowmobiles. “You do not allow uses unless they do not damage resources,” he said.

Tim Young from the Conservation Association’s Jackson office said it appears “the language is simpler and clearer for managers. The new terms could really help park staff in determining whether an activity should be allowed and when it’s appropriate to say ‘no’ to impacts from possible management actions.”

BlueRibbon Coalition executive director Greg Mumm, whose group represents 600,000 people nationwide who participate in off-road motorized recreation, saw the change as a setback for his people.

“Certainly it can have implications, and not just in Yellowstone,” Mumm said. “There has been study after study that shows that the impact [of snowmobile use] is not what they have claimed it is.

“This is a bad day for recreation,” Mumm continued. “There are appropriate places, if managed correctly, where access for recreation should not take second fiddle. Yellowstone is a prime example of that.”

New language in the document updates forest fire guidelines and mandates restrictions on cell towers in parks. Other changes include protections on natural soundscapes and sections that direct park officials to limit sprawl and eliminate invasive plant and animal species. Young called the restrictions on cell phone towers “a great step forward in protecting the scenic beauty of Yellowstone and Grand Teton.”

Further, the new draft suggests that parks use vehicles, equipment and transportation that minimize pollution and noise. Young said that sort of policy is good for the Greater Yellowstone region in the long term because it acts to support initiatives like the Clean Cities Coalition.

Tipton said it was too early to assume that the Bush administration’s environmental policies have taken a green turn, saying the administration made six years of decisions that have threatened and continue to threaten national parks.